Penny Dreadful: Season 2, Episode 10 ~ And They Were Enemies

This second season of Penny Dreadful has been painfully uneven with some seriously dubious storyline choices, but everything built nicely for a truly satisfying season finale. Picking up where we left off last week, Ms. Ives is face to face with her fetish and it’s uber weird. As the fallen angel speaks to Vanessa via a doll who looks and sounds exactly like her, Vanessa is dared to know herself and she does exactly that. Careful what you wish for Lucifer because Ms. Ives is a badass bitch who does not suffer fools and she will tear you and your silly, little Madame Kali down. With a bit of help from Mr. Chandler of course. You can try to break her down by promising her a normal life, whatever that means, but she’s stronger than that. Ms. Ives knows herself and this Little Scorpion will always persevere. “Beloved, know your master,” indeed.

Vanessa finally coming face to face with Ethan in all of his lycanthrope glory was so conflicting. This was very much a Beauty and the Beast moment and you could almost see Ethan’s heart break when he realized what was going on. As is often the case with true love, Vanessa does not care about his negatives, no, she loves him and asks him to spend the night with her. Mr. Chandler must have channeled some of that willpower that kept him from knocking her head off when he was in wolf form because I can’t imagine there is a soul on earth that would turn down an invitation from Eva Green. To pay penance for this mistake, his hair has been cut and he is being taken back to America.

Nooooooo! they cut my hair!!

“Never underestimate the power of a queen with lovely hair, my dear.” ….and mic drop.

Thank you Mr. Lyle. Shantay, you stay.

Unfortunately, Sir Malcolm was mostly wasted this season and the business with him and Dr. Frankenstein facing their past sins became tiresome. We all know that these two men are deeply flawed and led by their own arrogance and selfish desires. For me, watching them be dressed down, for what felt like forever and a day, negatively affected the overall pace of the episode. Well, Sir Malcolm, off you sail back to Africa and Victor, well, perhaps you should find the nearest NA meeting.

Lovely locks, Mr. Lyle, very lovely.

Another character who didn’t do much except throw tantrums and spout poetry also sees himself on a boat after rightfully killing that awful Mr. and Mrs. Putney. It was certainly amusing to watch them patronize him through those bars knowing that he was never going to go along with their disgusting plans for a freak show. Watching John break free of his cage and dispense some righteous neck breaking and cranium bashing was the most interesting thing he’s done all season. Here’s to hoping that wherever that icy boat is taking him, he’ll have more interesting things to do.

Now, the most grossly underutilized character this season, Mr. Gray, ended up landing in the most delicious scenario of all. Dorian and Lilly are quite the gorgeous immortal couple and their witty banter was the icing on the cake. This Dreadful is absolutely giddy at the prospect of the carnage and terror that these two shall reign down next season.

Sweet dreams are made of this.

After what was a uniquely layered first season, this sophomore season had it’s slumps, but ultimately landed on it’s feet. My main complaint this season are the deeply Victorian moments that we were subjected to. I realize for others, this is a plus and not a minus so we will have to agree to disagree on this point. The episode that focused solely on Vanessa and Ethan was a strange, miniature Victorian love story and it simply did not do it for me. At the closing of this season finale, watching Ms. Ives walk through that giant house, turning it dark and then uttering the line, “So we walk alone.” as a sad tear escapes her eye was just too dramatic for this girl. I felt like Lilly wearing one of those dreaded corsets:I couldn’t breathe because I was being stifled by all of the melodrama. Overall, I am still head over heels in love with Penny Dreadful, though. It’s a visually sumptuous show with complex and emotionally layered writing that provokes one to think, which is exactly what good television should do.

Sidenotes:

The dream of Ethan and Vanessa together was a beautiful, cotton candy moment in an otherwise emotionally depleting episode.

I deeply enjoyed seeing Madame Kali’s face finally show her history of smoking. Wrinkles, kids, wrinkles.

If Sembene is truly dead, then you know what this means, right? The first person to die in our main group was the minority. That is all.